Sketches

I came across this book in Kanda-Jimbocho last month called simply Tatsuo Shimizu, the name of a Japanese fine artist. There was no listing for any books by him on Goodreads, at least none in English, so I created the entry and snapped a photo of the cover for use in posting the review.

Then I searched Wikipedia and Google and could find nothing in English (or in Japanese) about him. I had no idea whether he was still alive (he was born in 1933), when I posted this.* But I quite like his landscapes and particularly his simple sketches of harbours and the sea.

I’ve included snaps of him and some of the pictures that I liked which he created between 1958 and 1993 which were reproduced in the book. I apologise for the poor reproductions here taken with my digital phone, but I figured if there was nothing online about him in English, at least there is now.

Click on any of the photos to zoom in. Enjoy.

*Addendum: He died in 2006 at the age of 73. Details in Japanese here. His name in kanji is: 清水龍雄 if anyone wants to search further for him. He is not the Tatsuo Shimizu who wrote business books in the 1990s either. (Hat tip to Peter Durfee for these details.)

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Patrick Sherriff publishes a monthly newsletter highlighting good fiction published in English about Japan. He lives in Abiko with his wife and two daughters.

ABOUT

Patrick Sherriff survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between writing and illustrating textbooks for non-native speakers of English he releases Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, essays and just now, an adult colouring book. He lives in Japan with his wife and two daughters.